Monday, July 18, 2011

http://localdirectory.nydailynews.com/bruce+claugus.9.117318553p.home.html

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Bruce Claugus and His Law Firm, Claugus & Mitchell LLP, Have Received AV® Ratings From Martindale-Hubbell®, Its Preeminent Rating.

Bruce Claugus http://www.c-mlaw.com/attorneys/bruce-claugus and his law firm, Claugus & Mitchell LLP, http://www.c-mlaw.com have received the prestigious AV® rating from Martindale-Hubbell®, its preeminent rating.

New York, New York (LexisNexis) May 2, 2011 – New York attorney Bruce Claugus of Claugus & Mitchell LLP, has received the prestigious AV® Preeminent Rating(SM) from Martindale-Hubbell®. The AV® Preeminent(SM) rating is the highest such peer review rating available to any individual lawyer.

Bruce Claugus http://www.c-mlaw.com/attorneys/bruce-claugus has thirty-five years of experience and was admitted to practice in New York in 1977 and in Illinois in 1983.

Upon learning of the AV® Preeminent (SM) rating awarded to him http://www.c-mlaw.com/attorneys/bruce-claugus and Claugus & Mitchell http://www.c-mlaw.com/our-values, Mr. Claugus remarked, “I have spent a lifetime developing my abilities and my ethical standards to the highest levels possible. I am deeply gratified that Martindale-Hubbell and my peers have seen fit to honor me as they have. I suppose it is unpopular or even unwise to mention that I am a man of deep religious belief; however, I will not shrink from saying so. I am proud of this belief. It has guided me throughout my life and caused me to strive to be the most useful and honest man I can be. My belief is responsible for the honor Martindale-Hubbell and my peers have bestowed on me. I hope and pray that, through my striving and consistent with the honor I now enjoy, I will, in some small way, justify the space I occupy on this earth.”

An AV® rating is granted only to the top three percent of lawyers and recognizes their legal expertise and overall professional excellence. The AV® Preeminent(TM) rating is a significant accomplishment for Mr. Claugus and Claugus & Mitchell and is a testament to the fact that peers of Mr. Claugus rank him at the highest level of professional excellence. A widely respected mark of achievement, his AV® Preeminent(TM) rating differentiates Mr. Claugus from most other lawyers.

The Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings system is based on the confidential opinions of members of the Bar and the Judiciary. Martindale-Hubbbell representatives conduct personal interviews to discuss lawyers under review with other members of the Bar. A compilation of these opinions from various sources is necessary to form a consensus and lawyers under review are sometimes asked to provide professional references to assist with the process. In addition, confidential questionnaires are sent to lawyers and judges in the same geographic location and area of practice as the lawyer being rated. Members of the Bar are instructed to assess the legal ability and ethical standards of their colleague.

The Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings system reflects the anonymous opinions of members of the Bar and the Judiciary. Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings http://www.martindale.com/Products_and_Services/Peer_Review_Ratings.aspx fall into two categories: Legal Ability and General Ethical Standards. The Legal Ability Rating indicates professional ability in a specific area of practice and is based on five key areas: legal knowledge, analytical capabilities, judgment, communication ability, and legal experience. The General Ethical Standards Rating denotes adherence to the highest professional standards of practice and the honesty, reliability, diligence, and other criteria relevant to the discharge of the ethical responsibilities of a lawyer functioning at the highest level of the profession.[1] Mr. Claugus has embeded these standards in the culture of Claugus & Mitchell through the values he has established for the Firm and its entire staff. http://www.c-mlaw.com/our-values

Bruce Claugus was born in 1948 and has practiced law since 1976. He is the founder of the firm and practices primarily in the areas of banking, finance, and commercial and intellectual property litigation. Mr. Claugus is responsible for all of the areas of practice of the Firm. He pioneered the use of pre-export facilities to finance the privatization of natural resource properties in Latin America and is renowned for his forceful and innovative presence and tactics in corporate transactions and litigation.

Mr. Claugus earned a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree and a Master of Science degree in Engineering Mechanics from Ohio State University in 1972 and a Juris Doctorem from Georgetown University Law Center in 1976. He was trained in the practice of law at the firm of Shearman & Sterling.

In 1984, he earned a Master of Business Administration degree from The University of Chicago where he studied under Nobel Laureate Merton Miller, Victor Zarnowitz, and Dean Jack Gould.

Mr. Claugus has been a lecturer at numerous capital markets workshops in New York and Mexico conducted by such entities as El Financiero, The Lubin Center for International Business, and the Harvard Club. He has published with and at the request of Institutional Investor and has been quoted frequently by El Financiero, Latin Finance, and Crain's New York Business.

Professional Memberships

New York State Bar Association
Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honorary
Phi Delta Phi Law Honorary
Down Town Association
India House Club
The Down Town-Lower Manhattan Association

Admitted to Practice

New York
Illinois

Reported Decisions and Articles

Claugus & Mitchell LLP was founded on January 1, 1992, to provide incisive representation in the practice of law.

The Firm focuses its practice in the areas of commercial transactions, intellectual property, litigation, and transactions with individuals and businesses based throughout North America and the emerging markets. The services rendered by the Firm are direct and decisive and, within these disciplines, it guides its clients through the entirety of their needs.

Claugus & Mitchell is an integrated team of attorneys who have extensive training and decades of experience. Their cross-disciplinary practice enables them to deliver innovation, leadership, and efficiency to each matter they undertake. Their transactional and litigation practices inform one another resulting in excellence in the practice of law.

Claugus & Mitchell is small and small by choice. Mr. Claugus believes the practice of law requires creativity, speed, agility, and close attention to detail in order to achieve results of high quality. These requirements are best satisfied through a closely interactive relationship between the lawyer and the client, making the practice of law a very personal undertaking. Large enterprises are not well equipped to establish such a relationship or to meet these requirements. Claugus & Mitchell can and does. The advantage this gives the Firm has given rise to an established record of success against much larger adversaries. http://www.c-mlaw.com/overview

Mr. Claugus also wants to apply the capabilities and values of Claugus & Mitchell in economies that will enjoy high rates of growth. As a major part of this strategy, Claugus & Mitchell, as managed by Bruce Claugus, has just joined, as a founding member, the partnership of DeForest Partners, http://deforest.com.mx a law firm of thirty-seven lawyers with offices in New York, New York, and Mexico City, Monterrey, Puebla, and Querétaro of the United Mexican States. The Mexican law firms also participating as founding partners from the four cities in Mexico are Salas Piza, Lobo & Graham, Garcia Heres y Garduño, and Rodríguez, Ruíz y Zapeda, respectively. DeForest Partners also maintains formal, professional alliances with Casa Hierro in Lima, Perú, Estudio Trevisan in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Garcia Parot y Cia. in Santiago, Chile, and Kosmas y Kosmas in Panamá, Panamá.

Within Mexico, DeForest Partners practices administrative, environmental, international, family, franchise, labor, real estate, maritime, sports, and criminal law; international commerce and customs; media, entertainment, and the arts; immigration and naturalization; and health, social security, and human services. Throughout North America, DeForest Partners practices in the areas of banking, finance, and commercial litigation; bankruptcy; antitrust; corporations; estate planning; mergers and acquisitions; privatizations; alternative dispute resolution; foreign investment, and intellectual property. Services in the United States will be provided by Bruce Claugus and Claugus & Mitchell LLP. http://www.c-mlaw.com/overview Within this practice, Mr. Claugus and Claugus & Mitchell will concentrate their efforts in the areas of commercial transactions, intellectual property, litigation, and corporate transactions with individuals and businesses. http://deforest.com.mx

* Most important to Mr. Claugus and Claugus & Mitchell are their shared values. http://www.c-mlaw.com/our-values

* Mr. Claugus and Claugus & Mitchell maintain a robust litigation practice. http://www.c-mlaw.com/aop/new-york-litigation

* As a firm, Claugus & Mitchell has more than eighty years of corporate experience. http://www.c-mlaw.com/aop/new-york-corporate

* Mr. Claugus is a pioneer in financings in the emerging markets. http://www.c-mlaw.com/aop/new-york-latin-america

* The clients of Mr. Claugus and Claugus & Mitchell derive powerful advantages from the litigation and intellectual property practices he and the Firm conduct. http://www.c-mlaw.com/aop/new-york-intellectual-property/

When asked to comment on the rating awarded to Bruce Claugus and Claugus & Mitchell and the practice maintained, his clients and colleagues made a number of telling comments.

“It was my distinct pleasure to work closely with Mr. Bruce Claugus on a litigation involving allegations of fraud. The outcome was very favorable, and in my opinion, a direct result of the considerable skills Mr. Claugus brought to bear.” Mark G. Enderle, CPA, Partner, Stivers & Associates, PSC.

“Bruce Claugus is an attorney of preeminent legal ability and outstanding character. As important, he is a gentleman and a man of his word.” James J. DeLuca, Partner, Partner, Okin, Hollander & DeLuca, LLP.

“Bruce Claugus is an outstanding legal tactician and litigator, whose thoughtful strategies and careful execution has helped me through many difficult situations. He has the unique ability to combine his acute knowledge of the law with practical solutions to real world situations. He is a good and effective communicator, not only with the opposing side, but he also keeps his clients well informed. I am thankful that I am able to call on him when difficult legal situations arise.” John E. Oden, Author, Private Financier, and Amateur Boxer.

“It is a sad fact of life that many boxers leave the sport without the resources they need to live in the circumstances they deserve considering their dedication to their sport and the enjoyment they gave their fans. I have known many of these men and have referred them to Bruce Claugus and his Firm. Bruce did not have to help them, but he did. He represented these men for free in the finest spirit of human decency. I am and they are grateful to him.” Gerry Cooney, 1982 Number One Contender for the Heavy Weight Championship of the World.

“I have worked closely on a number of matters with Bruce Claugus, and, in addition to our professional relationship, I have come to know him socially. In addition to being an excellent lawyer, Mr. Claugus enjoys a reputation for reliability, honesty, and adherence to the highest ethical standards.” Mark D. Geraghty, Partner, Davidoff Malito & Hutcher LLP.

For more information about the firm please go to http://www.c-mlaw.com or call 212-425-2200, EXT. 11.

For information from Bruce Claugus, visit http://bruceclauguss.blogspot.com/2011/05/new-york-international-law-firm-of_10.html; http://bruceclauguss.blogspot.com/2011/04/creative-solutions-to-intractable.html; http://bruceclauguss.blogspot.com/2011/04/choke-points-to-die-for.html; http://bruceclauguss.blogspot.com/2011/04/business-of-new-york-is-business.html; and http://bruceclauguss.blogspot.com/2011/03/bruce-claugus_4871.html .

New York International Law Firm of Claugus & Mitchell LLP Joins the Partnership of DeForest Global Partners

Claugus & Mitchell LLP, http://www.c-mlaw.com/ founded in 1992 and managed by Bruce Claugus, has just joined -- as a founding member -- the partnership of DeForest Global Partners, a law firm of thirty-seven lawyers with offices in New York, New York and Mexico City, Monterrey, Puebla, and Querétaro of the United Mexican States. http://www.deforest.mx/english/oficinas.php

ShareThis Email PDF Print

Bruce Claugus

Services in the United States will be provided by Bruce Claugus, a leading international lawyer and his firm, Claugus & Mitchell LLP.

New York, NY (PRWEB) May 02, 2011

Claugus & Mitchell LLP, http://www.c-mlaw.com/ founded in 1992 and managed by Bruce Claugus, http://www.c-mlaw.com/attorneys/bruce-claugus/ has just joined, as a founding member, the partnership of DeForest Partners, a law firm of thirty-seven lawyers with offices in New York, New York, and Mexico City, Monterrey, Puebla, and Querétaro of the United Mexican States. http://www.deforest.mx/english/oficinas.php The Mexican law firms also participating as founding partners from the four cities in Mexico are Salas Piza, Lobo & Graham, Garcia Heres y Garduño, and Rodríguez, Ruíz y Zapeda, respectively. DeForest Partners also maintains formal, professional alliances with Casa Hierro in Lima, Perú, Estudio Trevisan in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Garcia Parot y Cia. in Santiago, Chile, and Kosmas y Kosmas in Panamá, Panamá.

Services in the United States will be provided by Bruce Claugus, a leading international lawyer, and his firm, Claugus & Mitchell LLP. Claugus & Mitchell carries an AV ® Peer Review Rating by Martindale Hubbell ®, the highest rating given. Mr. Claugus and Claugus & Mitchell concentrate their practice in the areas of commercial transactions, intellectual property, litigation, and corporate transactions with individuals and businesses. http://www.c-mlaw.com/overview/

Bruce Claugus http://www.c-mlaw.com/attorneys/bruce-claugus/ was born in 1948 and has practiced law since 1976. He is the founder of the firm of Claugus & Mitchell LLP http://www.c-mlaw.com/ and DeForest Global Partners LLP http://www.deforest.mx/english/areas.php and practices primarily in the areas of banking, finance, and commercial and intellectual property litigation. http://www.c-mlaw.com/overview/ Mr. Claugus is responsible for all of the areas of practice of the Firm. He pioneered the use of pre-export facilities to finance the privatization of natural resource properties in Latin America http://www.c-mlaw.com/aop/new-york-latin-america/ and is renowned for his forceful and innovative presence and tactics in corporate transactions and litigation. The formation of DeForest Global Partners LLP exemplifies his drive and focus on innovation and aggressive tactics. http://www.deforest.mx/english/index.php This new venture is expected to become a major vehicle in the improvement of services to Mexico and South America with offices in Mexico City, Puebla, Monterrey, Queretaro, of the United Mexican States. Along with Claugus & Mitchell LLP in New York, Salas Piza (founded in 1989) will maintain the offices in Mexico City, Garcia Heres (founded in 1998), will maintain those in Puebla, Lobo & Graham (founded in 2001) those in Monterrey, and Rodriguez, Ruis y Zepeda (founded in 2002), those in Queretaro. Affiliates include Casa Hierro in Lima, Perú http://www.casahierroabogados.com.pe, Estudio Trevisan in Buenos Aires, Argentina http://www.estudiotrevisan.com, Garcia Parot y Cia. in Santiago, Chile http://www.garciaparot.cl, and Kosmas y Kosmas in Panamá, Panamá http//www.kosmasykosmas.com.

Mr. Claugus earned a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree and a Master of Science degree in Engineering Mechanics from The Ohio State University http://majors.osu.edu/pdfview.aspx?id=34 in 1972 and a Juris Doctorem from Georgetown University Law Center www.law.georgetown.edu/ in 1976. He was trained in the practice of law at the firm of Shearman & Sterling http://www.shearman.com/.

In 1984, he earned a Master of Business Administration degree from The University of Chicago http://www.chicagobooth.edu/ where he studied under Nobel Laureate Merton Miller http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:_KOBVrVPZKgJ:www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/00/000603.miller.shtml+Nobel+Laureate+Merton+Miller&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com, Victor Zarnowitz , and Dean Jack Gould.

Mr. Claugus has been a lecturer at numerous capital markets workshops in New York and Mexico conducted by such entities as El Financiero, The Lubin Center for International Business, and the Harvard Club. He has published with and at the request of Institutional Investor and has been quoted frequently by El Financiero, Latin Finance, and Crain's New York Business. http://www.c-mlaw.com/attorneys/bruce-claugus/

Professional Memberships

New York State Bar Association www.nysba.org/
Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honorary www.tbp.org/
Down Town Association www.thedta.com/
India House Club www.indiahouseclub.org/
The Down Town-Lower Manhattan Association www.d-lma.com/

Admitted to Practice

New York
Illinois

Reported Decisions and Articles

For more information about Claugus & Mitchell LLP, visit http://www.c-mlaw.com/ .

For more information from Bruce Claugus , visit http://bruceclauguss.blogspot.com/2011/04/creative-solutions-to-intractable.html; http://bruceclauguss.blogspot.com/2011/04/choke-points-to-die-for.html; http://bruceclauguss.blogspot.com/2011/04/business-of-new-york-is-business.html; http://bruceclauguss.blogspot.com/2011/03/bruce-claugus_4871.html; http://bruceclauguss.blogspot.com/2011/05/bruce-claugus-and-his-law-firm-claugus.html .

Monday, April 11, 2011

Creative Solutions To Intractable Problems

Bruce Claugus, of the law firm of Claugus & Mitchell LLP and DeForest Global Partners LLP has been a student of the process of innovation for the entirety of his professional life. He believes that innovation is the driving force behind all prosperity. He incorporates innovation as one of the principal values of his firm in all of its disciplines, ranging from corporate to litigation, emerging markets, and intellectual property. In fact, the formation of DeForest Global Partners LLP exemplifies the inclusion of his values in an innovative business decision. Mr. Claugus gives no interviews, but was persuaded to give a few examples of innovations he and his firm have brought into being. These are his words.

Ordinarily, we do little direct marketing to clients or prospective clients. We rely primarily on word of mouth. On the other hand, several weekends ago, I was thinking about a few of the developments in my practice and began to realize that, with the support of my associates and clients, a fair number of very creative solutions have been developed that often solved or avoided intractable problems or changed paradigms. On this basis, I decided to commit them to writing before they were forgotten. I hope they interest you.

        1. Engaged to document and close the sale of the assets of a small cable television company, I asked for the latest financials for the company to examine over the weekend. The then agreed price was $1,800,000. Of course, there are several ways to value such a company and using two of these, I calculated the value. The following Monday, I visited the client and said, “If you want to sell your company for $1,800,000, you can, but I think you can sell it for more like $2,400,000.” That idea appealed to him, so he authorized me to renegotiate to sale. I did and the company sold for $3,200,000. I am sure that a lot of different law firms could have documented and closed the sale of the assets in question on immaculate documentation. I do not know any that could have done that, thought to value the company, and then improved the price by nearly 80%.

        2. In order to encourage fleet purchasers of automobiles to buy its automobiles, an automobile company agreed to subsidize the interest rate paid to a lender by the fleet purchaser to the extent of 300 basis points. The fleet purchaser would get funding at the applicable lending rate minus 150 basis points, while the lender would get the lending rate plus 150 basis points. An important client asked for form documentation to present to the fleet purchasers that would take advantage of this subsidy and went out on the road to market the “new” product. He came back a week later very dejected. “Everyone knows about this product. They already have their relationships.” They say, “Don’t call us, we’ll call you. What should I do?” I said, “Don’t be so greedy. Give the customer some of your subsidy.” “Can I do that,” he asked? I said, “Of course you can do that. It’s your money isn’t it?” In short, he did as I suggested, went back out on the road to market the truly new product, a subsidy of 175 basis points to the fleet purchaser and 125 to the lender, and came back from his trip with a big smile on his face. He looked at me and said, “For the first time in my career I don’t have any competition.” And he didn’t. We went on to market the new product all over the United States and my client became the most profitable office of the lender in the United States. I know of a lot of law firms that could have prepared the form documentation the client first used, but I do not know of any law firm that could have created an entirely new product that could so completely change the paradigm.

        3. As an adjunct to new product for fleet purchasers, a need developed to distribute risk. Using the new product described above, the direct lender enjoyed a subsidy of 125 basis points; however, we sold participations that carried a subsidy of only 25 basis points, keeping a risk free subsidy of 100 basis points for my client.

        4. In many ways, the most complicated creation involved what I call a pooled credit secured by pooled assets. The need was to provide secured funding for the construction by a particular developer of a series of industrial facilities to be leased to foreign end users. The construction was planned to proceed on almost a manufactured basis, which is to say, one installation after another in rapid succession. Rather than fund and secure each installation as it was built, the financing and securitization was, in a sense, automated. The facility was established on the basis of a series of installations by the developer and was secured automatically by the asset comprising the installation. This allowed for faster development and vastly reduced transaction costs.

        5. Similarly complex documentation was required for a series of financings I developed, primarily for privatizations. While the documentation was complex, the concept was simple. At root, the financings were one of the oldest forms of financing: factoring. We simply adapted the old form to the new need. If an entity seeking to privatize a property had an established production and delivery record and sold to a creditworthy customer, its receivables could pay into a lock box and provide the security for the financing needed. While these financings were given elaborate names, they simply were factoring, even though each financing was in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

        6. In another situation, we represented a clothing designer and manufacturer whose employees had absconded with its designs, products, and employees. We brought an action for trademark infringement and sought a temporary restraining order. The original application was heard in chambers and was granted. After an evidentiary hearing, it was continued. To this extent, no particular creativity was required. The creativity arose from the way we obtained the TROTRO. A friend agreed to help and, masquerading as a potential buyer, entered defendant’s showroom and photographed the infringing garment on sale. In the ensuing motion for contempt, we were able to show the judge vivid proof of the defendants’ contempt obtained directly from their showroom. The decision on this motion for contempt sealed the outcome against these defendants.

        7. In another dispute, we again changed the paradigm for a whole class of transactions. A consortium of lenders entered into what amounted to a credit enhancement facility in favor of a utility company. Each bank stood as the account party of a letter of credit in favor of the bank holding the ultimate asset. There could be no story unless the utility developed credit problems, so that is exactly what happened. A close examination of the facility, the letters of credit, and the conduct of the bank holding the asset revealed a gaping hole in the banks’ obligations, allowing them to avoid honoring any drafts presented against the letters of credit for payment. In the aftermath of this development, the content of the relevant documentation and the conduct of the lending bank were completely restructured. The gaping hole became known as the Sunflower breakout.

        8. Another paradigm shift occurred when I created the first real estate mortgage denominated in a foreign currency. One of the buildings is on Fifth Avenue, the other on East Fifty-Seventh Street. The buyer was Japanese, the currency Yen. There were two problems. First, the government professed to be unable to calculate the fees and taxes payable on the transaction if it were denominated in a foreign currency. Second, the government posed nearly impenetrable political problems. To solve the first, we developed a formulaic methodology that even a governmental official could follow. To solve the second, we persuaded the officials that the allowance and recordation of mortgages denominated in foreign currencies would materially increase the volume and revenue flow of their office. The first solution worked and our persuasion proved sound. The paradigm changed – at least in New York. Foreign currency mortgages now are common.

        9. The paradigm did not change, but the results were especially satisfying when we co-chaired the joint defense group in an adversarial proceeding brought against a bankrupt company that had been publicly traded. There were some twenty-five defendants variously involved in the operation of the company who, in simple terms, were charged with corporate looting. There were approximately eighteen law firms, including some that were very large. As co-chairs, we were charged with preparing a joint defense statement. Our co-chair went first and produced a statement that really did not explain just how defective the charges were. We went second and began at the end of the story. I called the last of the witnesses in first and said, “Charley isn’t the reason the bankrupt went bankrupt because its bank and primary source of liquidity failed?” “Yeah,” he said. From this point, we worked our way to the beginning of the story and developed a comprehensive and ultimately persuasive version of what happened. In the end, all defendants walked away unscathed. I always say that the best place to begin is at the beginning, but, in this case, the beginning was at the end, where the problem had its genesis. This recognition proved to be profoundly insightful and dispositive.

        10. In another problem that was creatively solved, we faced a mess made by lawyers at one of the largest law firms in existence. In representing a developmental corporation in the employment contract of its chief executive officer, this firm neglected to notice that, for tax purposes, all executives of corporations are considered employees so that withholding taxes must be paid. Because of this failure, some $500,000 in withholding taxes had gone unpaid. The large law firm also created violations of broker dealer regulations so that the shareholders could demand that their investments be returned. The tax problem was not so serious. It could be solved with a manageable sum of money. The broker dealer problem was extremely serious. It could have extinguished the company. To solve these problems, we broke the employment agreement into two agreements. One phased out the tax problem; the other restructured the role of the chief executive officer to eliminate the broker dealer violations. There was plenty of push back from the large law firm, but my presentation to the board of directors carried the day, our solutions were implemented, and the problems no longer exist.

        11. Another creative solution arose out of a distribution agreement that had been maliciously terminated. A remarkably capable and very successful young entrepreneur came to us on referral from the man who happened to be our tailor, complaining that a distribution agreement he had from a manufacturer had been terminated. This manufacturer had forced our client to sign a new distribution agreement that was terminable on thirty days notice and that required disputes to be arbitrated. The client had consulted a number of other lawyers before he came to us and all had failed to look beyond bringing an arbitration and alleging some violation of the distribution agreement or allowable trade practices. I took one look at the agreement and told the client that an arbitration alleging violation of the distribution agreement would be a waste of time. This agreement was a death trap. Instead, based on the intentions of the client for the future and previous publications of policy by the manufacturer, I advised bringing a declaratory judgement action to have the intellectual property of the manufacturer declared invalid. He authorized us to proceed; we did proceed; and six weeks later, the client had a new and much more liberal, fixed term and renewable distribution agreement. We were completely successful on the basis of an approach no one else had thought to consider.

        12. Another bold idea arose from problems a project company, building a governmental project in Central America, had with a large, American manufacturer of equipment. This manufacturer wrongly thought that it was entitled to supply certain equipment to the project. The project company thought otherwise, but that did not stop the manufacturer and an element of the U.S. government from threatening the country involved. This unsettled the government which had just formed following a coup d’état just a few months earlier. The project company proposed a litigation against the manufacturer, but our advice was forcefully against that approach. I told the project company, “You are in the project business, not the litigation business. Concentrate on the project. Forget the litigation. You want to reassure the government, I will render an opinion of counsel regarding the legalities.” “Would you do that?” the company asked. I said, “Of course.” I did as I proposed, rendered the opinion to the president of the country, and the opinion quieted the entire situation. For purposes of the opinion, the law was simple. The hard part was to give a simple opinion deep gravamen and to do so in language busy people working in a second language could read and be comforted. It worked. The government was reassured and we never heard from the manufacturer again.

        13. Another situation really called more for a sense of touch than any creativity, though creativity in the application of this “touch” was required. A close friend and longtime client engaged us to collect a $50,000 fee from an especially large financial institution. He said, “Bruce, collect this fee for me. The institution has not paid me and the officers do not return my telephone calls or acknowledge my statements.” I thought, “My God! How am I going to do this? If I get into a pushing contest with this institution over $50,000, we may get ten cents on the dollar some time in the next century.” In the face of this quandary, I simply called the officers involved and talked with them about their obligation to my client. A colleague of mine has told me that I am the only person they ever have met that can be charming and menacing, all at the same time. Somehow I think that is the ultimate compliment for a lawyer and I guess I used it on these officers, because very quickly, my client had his money. In fact, inasmuch as he was paid in soft money, they paid him twice what they owed. Of course, my client did not tell me that until years later.

        14. An important litigation that we handled called for a solution that was both creative and bold. Two Caribbean entities brought a special proceeding against our client, a financial institution based in the Mediterranean Sea, alleging that it had laundered money indirectly stolen from these entities. As the proceeding progressed, motion practice took place, considerable time passed, and the officials of the institution, including members of the board of directors swore that they had not laundered any money – ever. On the basis of the time that had passed and the word of the officials, I told opposing counsel that he really should serve a restraining notice on the financial institution. My analysis was that the officials had sworn they did not have any of the money. If they were truthful, the restraining notice would be of no effect. On the other hand, if they actually had had the money, they certainly had moved it during the time that had elapsed since the proceeding had begun. Opposing counsel served the notice and the judge found for the financial institution, saying that they had had the money, but had not had it by the time the restraining notice had been served. This gambit was creative and bold and it worked. Though guilty, the financial institution walked away untouched.

        15. A creative representation that proved to be particularly constructive involved an estate plan involving considerable tangible and intangible property. Considering the extraordinarily conservative character of the client, the plan involved primarily the tangible property, i.e., considerable amounts of undeveloped real property. From the corpus of the estate, three limited partnerships were created with the client as the sole general partner and his five heirs as limited partners. Because the partnerships held primarily real estate, involved only members of a single family, and essentially involved only illiquid property, based on multiple appraisals, the capital value of each of the partnerships was as much as forty percent lower than the value of the assets if they did not comprise the corpus of a partnership. These discounts to market value allowed the property to be gifted from the client to his heirs much more rapidly than otherwise might have been possible. The result was that one partnership was gifted completely out of the estate and went untaxed and the other two were gifted almost entirely and were only lightly taxed. To this day, the assets gifted remain in the family of the client.

        16. A litigation to collect a multimillion dollar investment banking fee involved whether or not a transaction subject to the payment of a fee had taken place and the quantum of the fee payable. The involvement of all of the parties to the transaction had been heavily disguised and any calculation of the fee require special insights into the fee agreement and the capital structure of the subject of the transaction in question. To determine whether a transaction subject to a fee had taken place, I flew to Mexico and connected with a friend who practiced law there. We set up concealed audio/video equipment, interviewed one of the principals at great length, and established that, indeed, a subject transaction had taken place. Once this fact was established, we recognized that the quantum of the fee payable derived from the capital structure of the subject. This we calculated to be $10,000,000. Confronted with this information, the obligor under the fee agreement paid our client the sum owed.

        17. Of course we have handled a lot of other matters that have been fairly conventional in terms of process. Many, however, have been unusual in terms of content. These include the first private loan to the government of the People’s Republic of China, the restructuring of the debt of the Great Wall Hotel Beijing, the first bankers’ acceptance facility for the Central Bank of Turkey, and a drachma loan to a pharmaceutical company. These transactions were fairly conventional, but were interesting for their exoticism. Others include the composition of speeches, magazine articles, mission statements, and even seating protocols for major financial and industrial entities. These activities were entirely straight forward, but unusual in the degree of dependence on and trust of me shown by these distinguished entities.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bruce Claugus

Bruce Claugus was born in 1948 and has practiced law since 1976. He is the founder of the firm of Claugus & Mitchell LLP and DeForest Global Partners LLP and practices primarily in the areas of banking, finance, and commercial and intellectual property litigation. Mr. Claugus is responsible for all of the areas of practice of the Firm. He pioneered the use of pre-export facilities to finance the privatization of natural resource properties in Latin America and is renowned for his forceful and innovative presence and tactics in corporate transactions and litigation. The formation of DeForest Global Partners LLP exemplifies his drive and focus on innovation and aggressive tactics. This new venture is expected to become a major vehicle in the improvement of services to Mexico and South America with offices in Mexico City, Puebla, Monterrey, Queretaro, of the United Mexican States. Along with Claugus & Mitchell LLP in New York, Salas Piza (founded in 1989) will maintain the offices in Mexico City, Garcia Heres (founded in 1998), will maintain those in Puebla, Lobo & Graham (founded in 2001) those in Monterrey, and Rodriguez, Ruis y Zepeda (founded in 2002), those in Queretaro. Affiliates include Casa Hierro in Lima, Perú, Estudio Trevisan in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Garcia Parot y Cia. in Santiago, Chile, and Kosmas y Kosmas in Panamá, Panamá.

Mr. Claugus earned a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree and a Master of Science degree in Engineering Mechanics from The Ohio State University in 1972 and a Juris Doctorem from Georgetown University Law Center in 1976. He was trained in the practice of law at the firm of Shearman & Sterling .

In 1984, he earned a Master of Business Administration degree from The University of Chicago where he studied under Nobel Laureate Merton Miller , Victor Zarnowitz , and Dean Jack Gould.

Mr. Claugus has been a lecturer at numerous capital markets workshops in New York and Mexico conducted by such entities as El Financiero, The Lubin Center for International Business, and the Harvard Club. He has published with and at the request of Institutional Investor and has been quoted frequently by El Financiero, Latin Finance, and Crain's New York Business.

Professional Memberships

Admitted to Practice

New York
Illinois

Reported Decisions and Articles

For more information about Claugus & Mitchell LLP, visit our website.

For more information from Bruce Claugus, visit: Choke Points to Die For, The Business of New York Is Business, Bruce Claugus and Claugus & Mitchell LLP are AV Rated, Speaking Engagements, and New York International Law Firm of Claugus & Mitchell LLP Joins the Partnership of DeForest Global Partners.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Choke Points To Die For

On Thursday, April 7, 2011, The New York Times reported that, during the week ending the previous day, there had been two automobile accidents at the Queens bound off ramp of the Queensboro Bridge, resulting in two drivers being maimed, one passenger suffering severe head trauma, one passenger suffering a broken ankle, and one pedestrian being killed. Why should we be surprised? Where once there had been three lanes for traffic to exit the Bridge safely, the City had narrowed the exit to two lanes, adding wider sidewalks, a bike lane, a park beneath the Bridge, and a wider median with concrete planters. It made these changes "to make the area more hospitable to pedestrians" and the result is that a pedestrian has been killed.

In addition, Crescent Street, previously one way south for its entire length, has been blocked off by making the one block opening onto the Bridge exit one way north. Both north and south of this one way, one block barrier, Crescent Street remains one way south as it always has been. This one block change prevents traffic exiting the Bridge from bleeding off Queens Plaza quickly, requires all traffic to funnel into two lanes instead of three, and adds to constant congestion. Employees of businesses across from the exit now fear for their lives as the traffic is forced to veer closer to their businesses. In fact, one of the two automobiles involved in the accidents plowed into Villa de Beaute Salon. Fortunately, one one was at work. Had there been, there might well have been more deaths.

This particular exit from the Queensboro Bridge is not the only choke point that poses dangers to pedestrians. Just off the southern perimeter of Columbus Circle, immediately across from 1802 Broadway, the City, in its infinite wisdom, has installed a pedestrian plaza and parking for pedicabs, eliminating parking for six automobiles and dramatically narrowing Broadway. On March 28, 2011, as it swung around the Circle, a taxi cab veered off the outer lane, slammed through the pedestrian plaza, and plowed into Columbus Circle Liquor Store and Lens Crafters, killing the driver. It happens that the accident occurred at 4:30 in the morning. Had it occurred at 4:30 in the afternoon, a mother and her three children, enjoying an ice cream, would have been hit and all three of them killed. In addition, without the barrier offered by cars that now are banned from parking, pedestrians on the sidewalk and workers in the stores also could have been killed.

This action by the City is crazy. Or is it. Could it be that our Mayor has set out to increase congestion in the City in order to gather momentum for another go at congestion pricing or, better, congestion taxing? Let us travel down Broadway a little further to Times Square where traffic patterns have been altered radically. Watch the traffic of both vehicles and pedestrians. Even the most cursory glance of the most casual observer will reveal that congestion has dramatically increased. It is impossible to reduce congestion by erecting barriers to flow patterns. That fact is amply demonstrated in Times Square and at the other locations where traffic patterns have been altered.

Let us now go back out to Queens in the vicinity of the exits to the Queensboro Bridge. Of the two entrances to the upper deck of the Bridge, both have been narrowed by fifty percent, one by a bike lane no one uses and the other by plastic barrels. Of the two entrances to the lower deck, one has been obstructed by limitations to Crescent Street, which acts as an entrance to the Bridge, from intersecting streets. Vernon Boulevard is no longer a boulevard. It is an obstacle course. The City has installed traffic islands that serve no apparent purpose other than to narrow the roadway. Bike lanes on either side that no one uses narrow the "Boulevard" further. Finally, at the intersection of Vernon Boulevard and Queens Plaza, the City has installed a stop light where none had existed before. Prior to the installation of the light, there never was any congestion. Now the the congestion is constant. At times drivers have to wait through two or three light changes to make a turn onto Queens Plaza and the now narrowed entrance to the upper deck of the Bridge. Motor through the surrounding neighborhood. The traffic lights have been coordinated to cause congestion. A driver will travel a block and meet a red light. It turns green and the driver travels another block and must stop again for another red light. And so on.

This approach to traffic engineering is crazy. Or is it? I think the Mayor, hand in hand with his Commissioner of Transportation, Janette Sadik-Khan, is intent on increasing congestion in order to gain ground in his pursuit of taxing the commuting public via "congestion pricing". The mayor says that he wants people to use public transportation instead of their automobiles. If he wants more people to use public transportation, he should make it an attractive option that people might want to use. Instead, he proposes to force people to use it. Meanwhile, bike lanes that no one uses flourish, traffic patterns change radically, congestion grows, and people are maimed and killed. http://www.c-mlaw.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bruce Claugus

New York State Bar Association www.nysba.org/
Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honorary www.tbp.org/
Down Town Association www.thedta.com/
India House Club www.indiahouseclub.org/
The Down Town-Lower Manhattan Association www.d-lma.com/

Admitted to Practice

New York
Illinois

Reported Decisions and Articles

For more information about Claugus & Mitcehll LLP, visit http://www.c-mlaw.com/.

For moe information from Bruce Claugus, visit http://bruceclauguss.blogspot.com/2011/04/choke-points-to-die-for.html; http://bruceclauguss.blogspot.com/2011/04/business-of-new-york-is-business.html; http://bruceclauguss.blogspot.com/2011/03/bruce-claugus_4871.html; http://bruceclauguss.blogspot.com/2011/05/bruce-claugus-and-his-law-firm-claugus.html; and http://bruceclauguss.blogspot.com/2011/05/new-york-international-law-firm-of_10.html.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

The Business of New York Is Business

          The business of New York is business and the business of a mayor, in significant part, is to speed that business, not to bring it to a stop. Mayor Bloomberg seems not to have thought of this aspect of his job, but I suppose he has been preoccupied by the planning needed to change parties from democrat to republican to independent and to support term limits and then not support term limits and then to support them again. His mind certainly was somewhere else when he appointed Janette Sadik-Khan Transportation Commissioner and allowed or encouraged her to add hundreds of miles of bicycle lanes to the streets of New York.

This is lunacy. No one bicycles to work. The working people of New York have to arrive at their places of employment clean, dry, and presentable. Ms. Sadik-Khan may bicycle to work, but she is the Transportation Commissioner. She may be at liberty to show up at mayoral press conferences with disheveled hair and wearing a baseball cap and a sweat suit and, in all likelihood, smelling like a goat, but the rest of us are not. Street Fighter, The New York Times, March 6, 2011, page 1.

          A small minority of us may bicycle to work or for work, but the idea of encumbering the flow of vehicular traffic for the vast majority of us by creating bike lanes is ridiculous. There are streets in Long Island City where the bike lanes have reduced vehicular access to the Queensboro Bridge by fifty percent and reduced the width of the streets permitted to motor vehicles to such an extent that a driver cannot use the street without infringing on the bike lanes. The same is true in Manhattan. This misuse is particularly offensive when no bicycle riders appear to use these lanes. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of bicycle riders I have seen on Vernon Boulevard, near my home.

           The methodology of the mayor and Ms. Sadik-Khan in dedicating the bike lanes also is offensive. Did they ask anyone if they wanted bike lanes in their neighborhood? Not really. The mayor and Ms. Sadik-Khan are off on their own and, adding insult to injury, Ms. Sadik-Khan is described as brusque, uncompromising, alienating, needlessly conflictive, wacko nutso, dismissive, confrontational, and a screamer. None of this is hard to believe if you look at the picture of her on the front page of the Metropolitan Section of The New York Times for March 6, 2011. Underneath the visor of her baseball cap, her face has the look of a newly admitted inmate in an insane asylum. Mayor Bloomberg is standing in front of her holding a press conference, so this analogy might be particularly apt. Id.

Most disconcerting of all is the fact that many bicyclists seem to have no acquaintance with the traffic rules and laws. They run red lights and stop signs. They speed through crowds of pedestrians. They block emergency vehicles. Ms. Sadik-Khan disputes this fact and claims that speeding, crashes, and injuries all are down. It is tempting to speculate that these results derive from the fact that vehicular traffic has been brought to a halt, but at least as potent is the fact that the Department of Transportation has cooked the books. According to The New York Times, the statistics Ms. Sadik-Khan has cited are just smoke and mirrors, cherry picked, made up, and deceptive.

Anthony Weiner is supposed to have said to the mayor, "When I become mayor, . . . I'm going to spend my first year . . . [having] a bunch of ribbon-cuttings tearing out your . . . bike lanes." Good for Anthony! Street Fighter, The New York Times, March 6, 2011, page 1. Rededicating streets in New York, first dedicated to commerce, to bike lanes is moronic or, better, wacko nutso.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bruce Claugus

Bruce Claugus http://www.c-mlaw.com/attorneys/bruce-claugus/ was born in 1948 and has practiced law since 1976. He is the founder of the firm of Claugus & Mitchell LLP http://www.c-mlaw.com/ and DeForest Global Partners LLP http://www.deforest.mx/english/areas.php and practices primarily in the areas of banking, finance, and commercial and intellectual property litigation. http://www.c-mlaw.com/overview/ Mr. Claugus is responsible for all of the areas of practice of the Firm. He pioneered the use of pre-export facilities to finance the privatization of natural resource properties in Latin America http://www.c-mlaw.com/aop/new-york-latin-america/ and is renowned for his forceful and innovative presence and tactics in corporate transactions and litigation.

The formation of DeForest Global Partners LLP exemplifies his drive and focus on innovation and aggressive tactics. http://www.deforest.mx/english/index.php This new venture is expected to become a major vehicle in the improvement of services to Mexico and South America with offices in Mexico City, Puebla, Monterrey, Queretaro, of the United Mexican States. Along with Claugus & Mitchell LLP in New York, Salas Piza (founded in 1989) will maintain the offices in Mexico City, Garcia Heres (founded in 1998), will maintain those in Puebla, Lobo & Graham (founded in 2001) those in Monterrey, and Rodriguez, Ruis y Zepeda (founded in 2002), those in Queretaro. Affiliates include Casa Hierro in Lima, Perú http://www.casahierroabogados.com.pe, Estudio Trevisan in Buenos Aires, Argentina http://www.estudiotrevisan.com, Garcia Parot y Cia. in Santiago, Chile http://www.garciaparot.cl, and Kosmas y Kosmas in Panamá, Panamá http//www.kosmasykosmas.com.

New York State Bar Association www.nysba.org/
Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honorary www.tbp.org/
Down Town Association www.thedta.com/
India House Club www.indiahouseclub.org/
The Down Town-Lower Manhattan Association www.d-lma.com/

Admitted to Practice

New York
Illinois

Reported Decisions and Articles

For more information about Claugus & Mitchell LLP, visit http://www.c-mlaw.com/.

For more information from Bruce Claugus, visit http://bruceclauguss.blogspot.com/2011/05/bruce-claugus-and-his-law-firm-claugus.html; http://bruceclauguss.blogspot.com/2011/05/new-york-international-law-firm-of_10.html; http://bruceclauguss.blogspot.com/2011/04/creative-solutions-to-intractable.html; http://bruceclauguss.blogspot.com/2011/04/choke-points-to-die-for.html; and http://bruceclauguss.blogspot.com/2011/03/bruce-claugus_4871.html.